We look forward to seeing them improve and rise in the brackets of the numerous Oceanic tournaments!

Deciding which players would join us was a tough call, and our condolences to those not chosen this time around.

Academy coach, Charlie 'x5 Satu' Potter, explained in brief how he made his decision in narrowing down the field of applicants:

"I was looking for players that were active, motivated, and easily coachable. The players I ended up picking showed these qualities much more than the other applicants."

We decided to conduct a small group interview to help you get to know our new players a little better

~~~Interview with x5 Crescendo~~~

C: First of all, welcome to Exile5!To start things off, could you share with us how you decided on your usernames - is there a story behind them?

x5 PeppyI wanted a happy ID, but happy was taken so I looked up synonyms for happy and I saw peppy, and thought it was cool

x5 InitiativeInitiative > I just think it sounds like a cool name haha and my name is pretty close to innovation ;)

x5 DesigNationUsernames are names that we designate ourselves asSo I thought my designation would be designationWhich also works as Design Nation o.O

C: Please tell us how each of you became involved in the competitive side of StarCraft. What drives you forward?

x5 PeppyI can't remember exactly how I found it, but when I was like 11 I found konadora's BW stream of proleague vods, it was the best day of my life, even though I had a 30kbs download speed so it lagged like crazy and it was in Korean. Just watching the plays they made and how much was happening blew my mind. From that day I was really motivated to try and see how good I could be

x5 InitiativeI'm a very competitive person, and I love rts games, so it's the perfect mix. I used to play a lot of age of empires, and then a friend showed me sc2, and it was 10 times better, haha, and played better players and improving in skill keeps driving me forward

x5 DesigNationI’ve seen a few pro games and as I've gotten better at playing the game I’m curious how well I’d stack up against our region's best, but I’m never going to be good if I don’t keep trying so that's my main drive, to keep improving

C: Would you share with us a bit about why you applied for Exile5's academy, and how you feel about now wearing the x5 tag?

x5 PeppyI really want a group of dedicated people to regularly practice with and bounce ideas off. For a long time x5 has been at the top of sc2 in SEA so it's awesome to represent them.

x5 InitiativeIt's a really good pro sc2 team, and they have really good OCE players, so I thought if I could get into this team, maybe one day I could be one of these really good players. its a pretty big leap from just mates having a clan, to a proper gaming team, and that's why I really wanted it. It's awesome to be one of the members of x5 and represent them.

x5 DesigNationExile5 is a premier SEA organisation for Esports so when I was told by some guys that they were taking on Academy members for SC2 in the SEA region I jumped at it because they can assist me in becoming a better player as well as being able to show me where I’m going wrong, as well as giving me an opportunity to get involved more with the SEA community, and I’m stoked to be playing for x5 because they are so renowned internationally as an esport contender

C: Now that you are fighting under the Exile5 banner, what are your next plans and short-term goals?

x5 DesigNationSatu had a talk with me about how I need to not wing my games so much and actually have a build to go with, so I’ll be doing actual study on SC2 builds for all the match ups and make my way to high GMand get a good gaming system. :(

C: A lot of us, whether in tournaments or on ladder, have games which stick in our memory as being more fun or entertaining than others. Do you have a war story or favourite match you'd like to share or brag about?

x5 PeppyCheesing Iaguz out of game one at ACL Sydney was awesome, played it on stage too which was sweet. Beating hut at ACL Brisbane was another awesome one because the other SLCN guys where behind me watching I remember Kez slapping me on the back after he tapped out.

x5 InitiativeI don't have any "war stories" or matches that stand out above the rest, but my favourite match up is tvz, because it's so intense, with micro and multitasking and all of that good jazz, I prefer more faster pace games than slow turtle mech games.

x5 DesigNationI never used to play 1v1s, but I remember a game on Megatron (4v4) where I went nexus first into a quick 3rd with triple forge upgrades and went into chargelot/archon, my allies held them off for a little and I’d barely made a unit until the 10th minute, just as my last ally died to a combined enemy attack, then he flamed me and left, and I got the rest of my teams income as they had all died. The game went on for a long time I think around 35ish minutes and I just remember rolling around the map with this huge force of Protoss at 3-3-3 and just crushing armies one by one and doing massive warp ins with a lot of gateways

C: For a bit of fun: if you could challenge anyone in the world to a Best of Five series, who would it be, and why?

x5 PeppyJaedong

x5 DesigNationAvilo probably, I think that would be hilarious.

x5 Initiativedefinitely avilo ^ cause I would die laughingbut would be playing for 4 hours so

x5 DesigNationI’d even get you coffee so you could keep on it dude, just to watch a 4 hour tvt where you guys are fighting over the last mineral field would be so awesome.

C: You'd be following a grand tradition established by PiG ;)Outside of the game itself, could you please share with us a bit more about yourselves? Music, books, movies, hobbies, and/or anything that gets you pumped up.

x5 PeppyI really like programming. In terms of music I listen to mostly hip-hop/rap. I wish I still had time to play hockey zzz

x5 InitiativeMusic > I listen to trance to chill and RnB > and fast pace generally some rockHobbies, I go to the gym, or go out and play some footy. Don't read too many books haha

x5 DesigNationI listen to a lot of techno style based music during my games but not really outside of them, I’m bit of an avid reader and enjoy decent sci-fi movies and cooking

C: Thank you all for taking the time to let us get to know you a bit more :)